The Rat Trap is made by stock removal out of 0.155" thick, S30V stainless steel. The handle is G10 with dual stainless steel liners and the blade retained with use of a compression lock.
It weighs 110 grams and is handle heavy, balancing on the middle finger. The blade has a full height flat grind tapering to a thin (0.020-0.027") and acute edge (25.2 +/- 1.0 degrees included) for very high cutting efficiency.
The grip is swelled well to fit the hand (large enough for glove use) and checkered to enhance retention in compromized situations. A shot alongside the Catcherman, Persian, and Manix also from Spyderco :
A few quick tests which allow a decent perspective of blade performance.
The new in box sharpness was extremely high. The Rat Trap readily shaved smoothly and could push cut newsprint with no draw. This high sharpness was reflected when cutting light thread as the blade only required 73.1 +/- 4.6 grams. At the same time the Rat Trap had a high slicing aggression needing only 0.30 +/- 0.05 centemeters to slice 42 lbs cotton on a two inch draw under 200 grams of tension.
Push cutting the 3/8" hemp required 15.3 +/- 0.7 lbs through the tip, a much reduced 9.5 +/- 0.4 lbs on a two inch draw. The vast drop in force required showing the significant inherent slicing aggression, revealing a complete sharpening profile for the Rat Trap. Pointing sections of hardwood dowel the Rat Trap could form a one inch tip in 5.6 +/- 1.1 cuts and pointed a 2.5x1.5" section of birch hardwood in 5.1 +/- 0.3 cuts.
With a slim and acute point, from a full length distal taper, the Paramility readily sank deep into a phonebook, reaching a depth of 227 +/- 6 pages with a 50 lbs push, and 689 +/- 16 pages with a hard vertical stab. It was not used for digging in 2x4's as the point is too slender and would break readily.
After the stock testing the blade was used in a variety of ways to get a feel for its scope of work, round out the stock testing profile and examine aspects of long term use.
The Rat Trap works very well in the kitchen, the slim and acute point effeciently cuts the eyes out of potatoes, and its lightweight nature and relatively slim grip makes it easier to handle sideways in a pinch style grip for peeling potatoes and other vegetables. The nice upsweep of the blade also efficiently slice up roasts and break apart chickens for stew and stir frys.
For most kitchen work of this type it is ahead of the Spyderco Manix simply as it is easier to handle. For much the same reasons, even to a greater extreme, the Catcherman is more effiient still than the Rat Trap outside of point work as it is too flexible except for soft fruits. The U2 makes a nicer paring knife, but in general is limited for utility work as it has a very short blade, the Paramilary is much more versatile in general able to handle a much wider scope of work.
The blade curvature on the Paramiliary also puts the edge low enough to readily allow full cuts on a cutting board, and one nice feature of the blade shape on the Paramiliary for kitchen work is that the spine is straight and works very efficient as a scraper to readily clean all diced vegetables off the cutting board and into the stew pot or fry pan.
The corrosion resistance of the steel, S30V, was high enough to allow the knife to stay wet while working even on acidic fruits and vegetables. The knife was never oiled, just rinsed and wiped dry at the end of any food preperation.
The Rat Trap works well carving woods, having a high efficiency for making deep cuts and thus allows quick rough shaping while at the same time working very well for precision carving which is enhanced by the lightweight nature of the design which makes it readily functional even in grips around the blade to give greater control of the tip for precision carving.
In terms of heavy work, it has its limitations as it is so light, it is readily significantly outperformed by a larger folder like the Manix for chopping light brush. While even the Manix isn't that capable of cutting through a 2x4 without a lot of time, it will allow limbing of small sticks, and thus gathering limbs for shelter with a lot less time and effort than the Rat Trap and can be effectively used to make a woody shelter (ref).
The Rat Trap is also limited in terms of point strength, so prying in woods would want to be avoided and instead cut the wood out with the blade, for shaping of hollows for bowls and spoons as well as trying to remove imbedded objects.
In terms of gathering grasses and other such light vegetation, it works very well cutting wise, but has its drawbacks mainly due to the short blade. The Catcherman works better for that type of work having a long blade but still being very light with a very high level of cutting ability.
The Rat Trap has an efficient edge profile for high cutting ability which is still durable enough to readily cut around bone with a blade stock which allows even the heaviest of cuts without flexing. The knife while an efficient cutting tool, isn't so heavily optomized towards light use that it can't be used for even really tough work such as cutting used carpet or even digging a hole in rocky soil.
The only concern for really tough work like root grubbing is that the slim and acute point can get readily impacted or fractured if contacted off a rock, thus instead of dynamically stabbing the knife into the ground, it should be pushed into the soil to loosen it, and trail with the edge instead of leading with it to further loosen it. Of course for that type of work a heavier tip such as found on the Pacific Salt is a more suitable design.
Similar concerns were found when the Paramiltary and Manix were used for some light wood carving. The Manix's thicker tip was more able to pop out chunks of wood to carve depressions for a spoon or bowl. Be careful with prying with either folder however as S30V has little ductility and will not bend significantly before breaking.
The lock is very strong and secure, and thus capable of handling heavy and dynamic loads. The scope of work of the knife as a utility tool, for prying and such is thus limited by the blade strength. S30V isn't a fairly ductile steel, and the Paramiltiary has a fairly slim point which would be readily broken just by moderate wrist flex if the point was used for serious prying, the full body of the blade would also likely not hold the weight of an average man as you want at least 3/16" thickness on a blade this length and width for that. In terms of simply cutting though, the blade and lock are strong and secure enough for even the heaviest of work.
S30V has a relatively low machinabilty which reduces ease of sharpening, however the thin and acute edge on the Rat Trap enhances this significantly. If the knife is significantly dulled, as after the extended carpet cutting, it is necessary to first reset the edge with a coarse hone, then the final finishing bevel can be applied with the Sharpmaker in just a few passes.
The Rat Trap has a secure and ergonomic handle, well contoured to give strong retention while not being so shape limiting that the grip versatility is reduced. The index finger cutout both aids in precision work as well as lock security.
The only significant ergonomic drawback is that the clip is a bit squarish. The handle is also a bit thin, but a truely ergonomic handle isn't feasible on a clip style knife as the contouring would make clip carry impractical. The inside of the handle slabs could be radiused slightly however.
In terms of general design, the much larger grip on the Manix is better for hammer grips :
However for side grips for precision carving :
The Rat Trap is more efficient as it is lighter and narrower.
The compression lock on the Rat Trap is secure under various heavy white knuckle grips as well as fast and heavy spine whacks . It also is stable under very heavy dynamic cutting and torques.
The knife also opens smoothly, much easier than on the lockbacks like the Manix, with the same easy swing as found on liner locks like the Military.
The Rat Trap is also easy to open and close one handed.
Comments can be emailed using cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or by posting in the following thread on Bladeforums :
| Last updated : | 05 : 19 : 2005 |
| Originally written: | 05 : 19 : 2005 |